Actor Idris Elba says he almost plunged to death while filming war drama Beasts of No Nation in Ghana.

According to the dailymail.co.uk, the 43-year-old star told the Jonathan Ross Show on Thursday that his near miss with death came when the film’s director wanted to film a scene on a real waterfall.

“In Hollywood you would have just filmed a bit of water coming down and just shot people’s closeups but Cary Fukunaga, the director, decided to shoot it for real,” he said.

He says while sitting at the top of the waterfall, waiting for the scene to be set up, the stunt co-ordinatior shouted: “Listen everyone this is a waterfall, that’s a 90, 100 foot drop down there and the ground is very slippery, just be careful!”

“I then put my foot on this rock just to hang out and chill out while they were setting up and as I’m doing that it’s slippery, obviously. I slip [and think] I’ll be alright, I put my hand on this tree… it’s not a tree it’s a branch! It snaps and I go literally about six feet before I go bang over and I got caught by the security guy,” Elba was quoted by dailymail.co.uk as saying.